The walk through Hobbiton was a great day. I was looking forward to just seeing this historic site, but to learn so much more about it from our tour guide was an added bonus. The information about the location scouts was quite interesting. The first story that comes to mind is when Peter Jackson and his scouters were flying around in a helicopter to find a location. When they came across the land that would soon be Hobbiton, Peter Jackson noticed the party tree. Once he saw that, he knew that is where they would build Hobbiton. The land around this tree was great as well and made for a perfect location. Once Peter decided on the location, they had to speak to the owners of the land. This is where the next example of scouting comes from. When they found the house of the owner of the farms, they were very lucky that he answered. The story we were told was he was watching the All Blacks play in a rugby match that afternoon. Fortunately for Peter Jackson and the Lord of the Rings future, it was halftime of the match. Only because of this did the owner of this land come to the door and speak with them. They then had a conversation and he allowed them to look around his land. The rest is history and Peter Jackson got his Hobbiton, and the owners of the land gets 50% of the profits that this tourist attraction brings in. This story really stuck with me and it is crazy how lucky we all our that is was halftime of that match. The last thing that was cool about the tour was the party tree. Peter Jackson used fake leaves for this tree. After they ordered hundred of thousand of leaves to be produced and shipped to them, Peter Jackson was not happy with the color. He had already had poor people sew these thousands of leaves onto this tree, where he then noticed the color was off. They needed new leaves, and needed them quick. Instead of spending money to have more leaves made, they sent the leaves to local kindergarten schools and had the children paint the leaves… for free! In the end, the tree was fixed and the kids got credit for their painting skills in the credits of the movie. Overall, the Hobbiton tour was a great experience and one of my favorite tours this trip so far.
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